Inspiration Can Only Take You So Far

I recently wrote a post about Ideas. Yeah, well … one knocked me on the head. And now I’m on the third chapter with a board of sixty-nine pins on Pinterest.

Never underestimate the power of inspiration.

Inspiration – would you believe it – comes from …

… the Republic, a Daydreamer, and the Mongols.

I can’t believe it either – yet it makes so much sense.

Ahem.

I read a post yesterday on what writing all boils down to – Perseverance.

Because in the end inspiration can only take you so far.

Writing can be fun, but sometimes it can be murder. It can feel like bashing one’s head against a solid brick wall that just won’t. give. way. It can be frustrating – like holding a thousand different threads that are all tangled up and you have to untangle them all. It can be like a crocheted blanket – with a million plot holes. It can be a ginormous, pounding headache. It can bring about the bright red cheeks of embarrassment.

It’s … hard.

But then … sometimes it isn’t. It can be a truly wonderful thing – when the plot comes together, intertwining with perfection. When a scene brings a tear to the eye or a line of dialogue brings a chuckle. Or when a character feels. Or when a bit of description is just right.

But if I give up when everything is tangled; when it seems like I can’t write well, when everything resembles that blanket … then I will miss out on the good things – the glorious moments; when the words flow and the story unfolds before my very eyes, when I can write ‘the End’ with a flourish, a job well done (until the edits …!).

So I guess the thing I need to remember – above all else – is to persevere, and never give up.

[crickets chirp]

Ness: does this mean that I have to finish that chapter – that really, really difficult-and-devoid-of-inspiration chapter – in The Many Trials?

[silence]